For 2010, the program's judging approach changed. Unlike years past, when participating governments put together an inventory of their cutting-edge technologies, this year the counties had to submit numerous explanatory narratives on why technologies deployed actually improved life for government employees, citizens or both, explained Todd Sander, director of the Center for Digital Government's Digital Communities program, the division that conducted the survey.

"We were looking for places that were working within their own organizations, but also with their neighbors," Sander said. "Examples would be if they had townships or cities, or if they were working with school districts, the state or with the federal government."

Projects that were motivated to bring transparency got high marks from the judges, and one such project put Montgomery County in first place in the 500, 000 or more population category. The county measured its IT functionality against benchmarks and published the data on its portal, unlike some other applicants, said Sander.

Another area of particular interest among judges was deployment of technologies that reduced energy usage in concrete ways. Chesterfield County had such a project with its automation of park lights. The upgrade eliminated the need for a worker to drive to various parks in order to turn off lights, which eliminated the possibility they would be on unnecessarily and saved money, Sander observed.

Hanover County won the top spot in the 150,000-249,999 population category, partially due to the large volume of IT efficiency projects the county implemented, said Sander.

"Probably more than anybody else in their group size, they were able to use technology to compensate for having to do with fewer employees in dealing with the economic downturn," Sander said. "That included improved project management capabilities, a bunch of cop stuff and lots of mobile devices."

Charles County took top honors in the less than 150,000 population category. Sander cited several upgrades implemented there, one of which was video conferencing for human resources. Video conferencing enabled the county to interview potential employees who were located far away, which eliminated the need for candidates to travel to the county's administrative office for interviews.